


Until After

by Spunky0ne



Category: Bleach
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 12:45:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17121623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spunky0ne/pseuds/Spunky0ne
Summary: When evil and purity meet, three promises are exchanged, but what will be the outcome? Can Tetsuya's pure heart calm the fires of a wronged man's wicked rage? Can innocence lost finally be restored if the doors to love are opened?...yaoi, mpreg, some light BDSM





	1. Flower Beneath the Falls

**(Before Aizen’s betrayal)**

If there was one thing that was certain, it was that no one in the entirety of the Seireitei, save three men, knew the true contents of the heart of Captain Sosuke Aizen. To his comrades and to his subordinates, he was a gentle and quiet man of science, a well educated man who seemed fascinated with beautiful gardens, the art of calligraphy, and the minds and motives of the people around him. Although a few of his peers questioned how a gentle man could keep such perfect order, all of them knew there was never any question that order was kept fastidiously in the fifth division.

Sosuke Aizen didn’t look imposing. While tall, his glasses and warm smile seemed inviting. His voice was smooth, even soothing and his face mostly looked pleasant and untroubled, with just a few stray bits of hair underscoring the softness of his look. His dark brown eyes twinkled easily, and his chuckle was infectious. Most agreed there was nothing not to like about this man.

But only Sosuke Aizen, himself and his two captain accomplices had any idea of the evil that lurked beneath that soft, smooth surface.

Still, being in disguise, hour after hour, day in and day out, over the course of a hundred or so years will take its toll, and now and then…one is bound to show glimpses of his true colors.

Even the master illusionist, Sosuke Aizen.

The unlikely culprit who suddenly snared the concealed traitor stood naked beneath a remotely located waterfall, on the edges of the famed Kuchiki family’s sprawling estate. A quiet cabin owned by Aizen stood near enough to account for his presence there, so it was, perhaps, a complete accident both arrived there that day.

Neither man could have anticipated the outcome.

Aizen’s brown eyes blinked slowly as he took in the lovely sight of the young man who stood beneath the falls. Even wet, his raven black hair was an unruly tumble of silken strands that leaked rivulets of water onto his soft, pale flesh. Bright sapphire eyes peeked out from under the mess of midnight strands that framed lightly flushed cheeks, a small, shapely nose and, for a Kuchiki, unnaturally full, smiling lips. His body, while maybe a little too slender, radiated with the strength of the young man’s reiatsu. Aizen wondered for a moment, if he had ever seen this man before, but one thing he was sure of, was that he had felt the young man’s power, at some point…and that fact made him more curious.

He moved closer, his brown orbs glinting with interest as he watched the young man turn to face away from him. The water splashed down now onto strong, slim shoulders and a thin, but muscular back that ended in a delightfully firm, round bottom. The man’s legs were submerged in the water, but Sosuke imagined that they must be just as delectable as the rest of him.

But…

_What is that on the back of his right shoulder?_

He stalked closer, but came to an abrupt stop as he sensed what seemed to be an extension of the man’s presence, emerging from the bushes near him. But although the reiatsu felt the same, what appeared in front of him was a tall black Arabian stallion, with eyes as blue as his shinigami master’s. The horse snorted and glared at him, but only for a moment before Aizen’s sword was out and raised, point down, and his smiling lips invoked the hypnosis ritual.

“Please look upon my sword.”

The beautiful stallion froze, staring for a moment. As Aizen’s power overtook his senses, the horse huffed out a breath, blinking a few times, then he turned and disappeared back into the brush. Aizen moved towards the waterfall, focusing more closely on the strange marking he had seen on the young man’s shoulder. As he closed in, he found he could read the word _Itamigiri_ , then underneath, the name, Tetsuya.

 _Ah_ , he mused inwardly, his dark eyes becoming more predatory, _this, then, is Byakuya’s healer and bodyguard, his cousin, Kuchiki Tetsuya. This is why I know his power._

He stood for a few moments, considering his actions carefully.

_Tetsuya’s reiatsu is strong. I could take a portion of his soul to feed to the hogyoku. But, I wonder if it would be better not to do so. He could be useful as a spy._

Still considering his options, he moved closer still, so that the young man couldn’t miss him when he turned again and their eyes met. But Tetsuya remained with his back turned, and as a little breath of the younger man’s sweet scent brushed against Aizen’s senses, a wholly different scheme entered the elder man’s mind.

His heart flickering at the radiant danger of Tetsuya turning and seeing him, he quietly disrobed and entered the water slowly, using the falling water and brilliant sun as distractions to let him approach. He came to a stop directly behind Tetsuya, invoking his hypnosis this time with touch, as he wrapped his arms around the younger man from behind. Tetsuya started to stiffen, but swiftly relaxed again, settling back against the elder man’s chest as Aizen studied him more closely. It was only up close like that, and with Tetsuya still and compliant, that he saw the very fine scars, the remnants of some kind of old injury, that ran along Tetsuya’s neck, back shoulders and arms. Even onto his buttocks and legs.

_Yes, I remember now. Tetsuya was born in the illegal noble’s prison called Itamigiri. He was a prisoner from birth. These markings are from repeated whippings, probably while he was a child._

_Hmm…_

He breathed in Tetsuya’s gentle, sweet scent as he thought.

_This is not the time to tempt fate by making a person so close to Byakuya disappear. I want there to be no hint of what I am doing. No, I will not take a piece of his soul either. I would make him a spy, but I sense that his bond with Byakuya, his loyalty to his cousin is too formidable. What then, will I do with him?_

“Who are you?” Tetsuya asked suddenly, “Why can’t I move?”

Aizen smiled.

_Oh, he is something, isn’t he? He shouldn’t be able to speak._

_Fascinating._

“I am only holding you in place to look at you more closely,” Aizen answered, using his power to mask his voice and reiatsu, “I saw the markings on your shoulder.”

“Oh,” Tetsuya said, deflating slightly.

Tetsuya’s breath caught and a little shiver went through him as Aizen’s fingertip traced along one of the fine scars.

“What are you doing?” he asked in a shaky voice, “Please stop.”

“These scars,” Aizen said calmly, “I can heal them, Tetsuya.”

“No one can heal them,” Tetsuya objected, “Everyone has tried.”

Aizen’s smile widened.

“I haven’t tried,” he said soothingly, “I am willing to heal them, but you must make me a promise. Will you do that?”

“What kind of promise?” Tetsuya asked warily, “I will not…”

“I won’t ask for anything that would be displeasing to you. At least, I don’t mean it to be. Tetsuya, if I can heal these scars, will you allow me to blindfold you and make love to you?”

Tetsuya stiffened.

“Let me go!” he gasped, his reiatsu rising.

“You are frightened,” Aizen breathed into his ear, sending little shivers down Tetsuya’s spine.

“You sneaked up on me and grabbed me!” Tetsuya exclaimed, “Did you hurt Arashi? He should have sensed you! Where is he?”

“Arashi is fine,” Aizen said soothingly, his fingers caressing Tetsuya’s cheek and bringing a darker flush to the fine pale skin, “I have no reason to hurt either one of you. You’ve made me curious. You are somewhat of a mystery, Tetsuya, and I love mysterious things. I will not hurt you or your stallion. I will do as I promised and heal these scars,” he said, tracing one that ran along the back of Tetsuya’s shoulder, “I can tell by the way you quiver when they are touched, the emotion that roils inside you, you want them gone, don’t you?”

Tetsuya didn’t answer for a moment, but drew and released tremulous breaths, considering.

“They hurt me,” he said finally, “They hurt me and no one could erase it.”

“Yes.”

“Are you going to hurt me too?”

Aizen’s lips curled into an evil smirk.

“No, I am not going to hurt you, Tetsuya.

“I know that you could if you wanted to. You overcame Arashi so easily, and I can’t break the hold you have over my body. You are obviously powerful.”

“I am powerful,” Aizen agreed, “but I am also quite lonely. Just a little of your attention could ease my loneliness…so much that I would offer you something of equal value. It is a fair exchange, isn’t it?”

“Are you from a powerful rival family?” Tetsuya asked, “You are worried about clan relations?”

“Something like that,” Aizen replied, kissing Tetsuya on a damp shoulder, “So, will you give your promise if I give mine?”

Tetsuya hesitated, then swallowed hard and nodded.

“If you make them disappear, I will let you make love to me,” he agreed.

“Very good,” Aizen said approvingly, pressing up against Tetsuya’s back.

He closed his eyes and drew in a slow breath through his nose, inhaling the younger man’s pleasant scent as he mentally connected with the hogyoku he had recently created from Kisuke Urahara’s notes that he had purloined from Central 46.

_Hogyoku, his scars can be healed, ne? It is possible?_

The little answering flicker of the hogyoku’s power earned a warmer smile. Aizen touched his fingers to one of the fine lines on Tetsuya’s, making a soft sound of triumph as it shimmered and faded.

“Wh-what is this?” Tetsuya whispered, his heart quickening, “How are you doing this?”

Tears leaked from his blue eyes as, one by one, the old markings shimmered and disappeared. As the last of the markings faded, Tetsuya dropped to his knees in the water, sobbing softly.

“I thought they would never be gone,” he whispered, “Orochi said that it meant that even if I got away, I was still just a servant.”

He paused and took a steadying breath.

“Is that what I am to you as well?” he asked.

“No,” Aizen said, kneeling behind him and kissing the back of his neck, “you are not a servant, Tetsuya. For this encounter, you are my lover, and I am yours.”

“But, I don’t even know your name.”

“Oh, I assure you, you do,” Aizen chuckled, laying a blindfold gently over the younger man’s eyes, “Relax, Tetsuya. You will not be sorry that you agreed to this. For this encounter, I want you to do exactly as I tell you. Don’t be afraid, just obey.”

Tetsuya managed a little nod and rested back against Aizen’s chest. He startled as the elder man’s fingers found his sensitive nipples.

“Relax,” Aizen said firmly, “Don’t be afraid. You are going to feel a little pressure on your nipples. This is not meant to be painful, just to stimulate you. Tell me if it becomes painful.”

“I will.”

He shivered slightly, but held still as something clamped down on one erect nipple, then the other. A little moan broke from his lips as Aizen’s fingers teased the area gently, making the pleasure and slight pain mingle erotically. He wanted to stiffen and object as he felt one of the elder man’s hand slide a cock ring into place in his nether region, but remembering the rules of their encounter, he clenched his jaw and kept silent. The elder man moved to kneel in front of him, then slid his hands down Tetsuya’s slim arms, capturing his wrists and guiding them into position behind his back, before binding them with a kido spell.

“May I ask you a question?”

Aizen paused to look at Tetsuya questioningly.

“If I am not beneath you, then why are you binding me?”

“Ah,” Aizen said, sounding amused, “the truth is that your beauty weakens me, Tetsuya. By binding you, I am only evening the playing field.”

Tetsuya’s lips smiled and a little sound of mingled surprise and amusement escaped him. He blushed brightly as Aizen moved in close, in front of him, capturing him by the chin and bringing his lips to the younger man’s. Those firm, demanding lips claimed Tetsuya’s hungrily, teasing the younger man into a bout of hard, biting kisses that left his own lips tingling. A hot, insistent tongue invaded his mouth, thrusting inside, then touching and tasting him everywhere, as the other man’s hands roamed over his body, sliding indulgently over the soft flesh, exploring, teasing his throbbing nipples, then sliding down and wrapping around his hungry erection, making it twitch and leak as he stroked it and played with the wet head, coaxing the younger man gradually into an even more heightened state of arousal.

Aizen knelt and dragged Tetsuya onto his lap, using one hand to hold his soft bottom, encouraging him to rub against the elder man's dangerously aroused cock, as Aizen used the fingers of his other hand to begin a slow preparation. Tetsuya flinched at the first touch, but calmed swiftly under the powerful influence of Aizen’s deep, soothing voice and calming caresses. One finger stroked his dampened entrance, then slipped slowly inside him. Tetsuya moaned heatedly as the finger inside him found his sensitive prostate and stimulated it until he was nearly begging for the elder man to enter him. Aizen's mouth reclaimed his roughly, and he added a second slicked finger, then his fingers thrust and stretched the soft tissues. A third finger had Tetsuya sure that he would lose his mind. He groaned pleadingly, but he continued to obey Aizen's every command, even when the elder man shifted and began his entry.

"Ah!" Tetsuya gasped dizzily, reeling as that hot, thickness slid slowly into his wetted entrance.

As their bodies joined, Tetsuya’s lips parted in a sound of surrender, only to be engulfed and amorously devoured by Aizen’s. The elder man’s hands slid down onto his hips as Aizen laid back in the water, holding and encouraging as Tetsuya straightened atop him and began to grind against him, tightening his thighs around Aizen and panting hard as their movements intensified.

_So soft._

_So warm._

_So very lovely, it is a shame it has to end._

Tetsuya tensed and shuddered, groaning in protest as the restraining ring held him back from completion.

“S-sir, p-please!” he panted desperately.

Aizen continued his hard, fast undulations until he felt nearly as desperate for release as Tetsuya looked. He released the  cock ring suddenly, making Tetsuya gasp and loose a howl of relief and pleasure as they surrendered together to a thunderous release. The bindings on Tetsuya’s hands shattered and he hugged Aizen tightly, returning his rough, passionate kisses with equal abandon. They were still in the midst of kissing, when Aizen sent a powerful shock through Tetsuya’s slender body and watched as the younger man went limp in his arms.

_I wonder, should I drown him? It is dangerous to leave loose ends, but…it is also tantalizing, even rapturous to live in constant danger._

Instead, he rested in the shallows, holding Tetsuya and admiring his now unscarred body.

“Hatred is ugly,” he said softly, “You wore that ugliness for many years, Tetsuya Kuchiki. But I have erased it. Don’t worry, I don’t expect gratitude. I won’t be gentle with the ones who hurt me, and some of them are people you care about. Rest easy, then, unaware that the same hands that relieved you of their hatred, will soon end their hatred forever. I couldn’t expect someone like you to understand what I am about to do…so live on and forget. Yes, forget that this ever happened.”

He lifted Tetsuya out of the water and carried him to the edge, where he laid the young man down on a bed of long grass and left him naked and sleeping. He gave an admonition to the black horse to watch over Tetsuya, then slipped quietly away, content to forget the matter entirely, himself.

Tetsuya woke, hours later and sat up quickly, blinking at the dizzy feeling in his head and the odd ache between his thighs. He reached up to scratch the back of his neck, then froze, staring at his unscarred arm. He studied the rest of his body, poring over every inch, his amazement increasing as he found no sign of the markings that had been there. He searched the area around him, but found no sign anyone else had been there.

“Strange,” he whispered, looking up where Arashi stood, cropping grass nearby, “Arashi, did you…see anything? Anyone?”

 _No master_ , the stallion’s voice whispered in his mind, _I watched you bathe and then fall asleep in the grass._

“Huh…strange,” Tetsuya said again, gathering his clothes and setting them back in place, “So very odd.”

Still mystified, he mounted Arashi and headed back to the main house.


	2. We Meet Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aizen and Tetsuya cross paths again in Hueco Mundo.

(Three months later at Aizen’s fortress in Hueco Mundo)

Sosuke Aizen sat on a large white, thronelike chair, an elbow leaning on one arm and his chin on his hand. Sly brown eyes blinked slowly and he wore a thoughtful, but slightly bored expression.

_Everything is proceeding according to my plans. Taking Orihime has had the desired effect. Yamamoto expects a direct attack on the Seireitei. His focus is on protecting the Seireitei and he has simply forgotten about Karkura Town altogether. I will be able to sweep in and make my conquest, then I will construct the King’s Key and head to the royal realm._

_My long wait for justice will finally end when the king falls and the lie that he is…dies._

_Ah, but the wait for that time is somewhat empty. It is true that Kurosaki Ichigo and his friends have entered Hueco Mundo, but it will be awhile before they reach this place and we are able to move on to the living world._

“Sosuke,” Gin’s voice said, drawing the leader of the hollows out of his reverie, “There has been another infiltration, a testing of our defenses.”

Aizen arched a fine eyebrow.

“And?”

“And our forces cornered a stealth unit that was actually quite close to reaching Las Noches.”

“Impressive. But…?”

“Our forces sensed them nearby and intercepted them. During the fighting, the shinigamis were cornered. One of them, a healer for the group, created a rather stunning diversion that allowed the others to easily escape us.”

“Do tell?” Aizen said, a little smile rising on his lips, “What then? Do we know who this person is?”

“Well,” said Gin, “I wasn’t sure at first, because he was such a sneaky little thing. I’ll get to who he is in a minute. I thought you should know that while he was protecting the others’ escape, he suffered some kind of power failure, and…we managed to capture him.”

“I see. Is he alive?”

“Yes.”

“And have you kept him in decent condition for me to examine him?”

Gin’s lips curved into a pleased smile.

“You want to examine him personally, Sosuke?”

“Yes. Where is he?”

“In the infirmary,” the silver-haired man replied, “I was just going there, myself.”

“Hmm,” Aizen said, rising and falling in with his comrade, “Finally something that might be worthy of my attention. I was getting rather bored, waiting for all of the pieces in this very large puzzle to move.”

“Understandable,” Gin chuckled, “It must be nerve wracking to wait for everyone else to catch up with you, ne?”

“I thought they might be doing better, but it looks like this may be over even faster than I thought.”

“Well, this should cheer you up.”

“I do hope so.”

The two men left the great meeting chamber and followed a white hallway that branched off in several places. They passed on guard post, then another, moving forward until they passed through a set of glass door, into the compound’s infirmary. They passed through the main ward, and Aizen frowned at the number of injured arrancars being treated.

“Gin…?”

Gin smirked and let out a little huff of breath.

“That was our new prisoner’s handiwork, and a fine piece of work it was. He could have simply killed all of these. However, he applied only the force needed to open the way for the group’s retreat.”

“Ah, all except for his own.”

“Yes, although, in all fairness, he didn’t expect to briefly lose his powers, so if that hadn’t happened, we wouldn’t have caught him. Oh, there he is.”

Aizen paused outside the door of one of the treatment rooms, studying the powerful barrier that protected against both entry and exit from the room. He gave Gin a curious look.

“I thought it best to both restrain him and to be sure he lived long enough for us to have a good look at him. The hollows mostly follow our orders about prisoners, but sometimes their devouring instinct…”

“Yes.”

Aizen and Gin passed through the barrier and into the treatment room, moving to the prisoner’s bedside then looking down at the unconscious shinigami together. Aizen was careful not to share the instant flicker of familiarity that registered.

_Tetsuya Kuchiki?_

_We meet again, but under very different circumstances._

He bent over the young man, gently opening his clothing and carefully examining an area just below the man’s navel.

“His spirit core is intact and resonates with power,” he commented, “Do you have any idea why his powers failed?”

“I have an idea, but look first at his spirit centers.”

Aizen quickly sensed, then examined the six additional points in Tetsuya’s torso area through which his reiatsu flowed.

“The pathways to his spirit centers are fully functional, and I must add…exceptional. This is a very powerful fighter.”

“And a healer too,” Gin added, pointing out a light marking on the back of one of Tetsuya’s hands, “I also noticed that he has a marking…”

“On his shoulder, yes…”

“You know him?” Gin queried, rubbing his chin.

“Yes, Tetsuya Kuchiki, Byakuya’s bodyguard and personal healer.”

Gin frowned.

“Why would Byakuya’s bodyguard and healer be here, without him?” he asked, “I’ve heard of this man. Byakuya barely makes a move without him being nearby. I know Byakuya hasn’t entered Hueco Mundo yet.”

“No, he hasn’t,” Aizen agreed, “But the captains will come soon. So, Tetsuya being here means that Byakuya is ordering probes of our position and defenses. It is all dreadfully, unimpressively to be expected.”

Gin’s trademark smirk returned swiftly.

“Maybe, but this one looks to have gained your curiosity, so I’ll point out one other oddity I noticed about him.”

He extended a hand, palm down, over the area of Tetsuya’s abdomen, just beneath the spirit core. Aizen’s eyes widened slightly and he suffered a little catching of his breath.

“Hmm, very interesting. I’ve never seen something like this before.”

Aizen’s hand reached down and came to rest on the very small, barely visible bump on the young man’s belly. He started to speak, but at that moment, the area just beneath his hand glowed a powerful golden for a moment, then began to pulsate gently.

“Oh my!” Gin breathed, covering his mouth, “What is this? Such a strange young man.”

“Fascinating,” Aizen said appreciatively.

“King Aizen, Lord Ichimaru,” a guard said from the doorway, “our spy group has returned and is ready to make a report.”

Gin’s head tilted and he gave Aizen an amused look.

“Why don’t you continue exploring here, and I will take care of this?”

“Very thoughtful of you, Gin,” Aizen said, smiling.

He watched as his comrade left, then he turned his attention back to the shingami. He sucked in a surprised breath at seeing Tetsuya’s lovely sapphire eyes were open and looking up at him dazedly.

“Welcome to Las Noches, Tetsuya Kuchiki,” he greeted the young man cordially, touching him on the arm to bring him under the control of his illusions.

Tetsuya blinked slowly and relaxed, looking up at the white ceiling.

“You remember me, don’t you?”

Tetsuya stiffened and his breath caught as a memory began to replay in his mind.

_I was bathing at the waterfall, when a man took me by surprise, and…_

He shivered, looking up at Aizen.

“It was you that day?” he asked softly, “But…how could it have been? You…?”

“I had disguised myself and did not reveal myself to you at the time,” Aizen explained, “And after our encounter, I hypnotized you to forget.”

Tetsuya’s blue eyes blinked again, then focused steadily on his.

“Why didn’t you kill me?” he wondered aloud, “Why did you just…heal my scars and let me go? I don’t understand.”

Aizen gave him a warm smile.

“I thought about killing you,” he confessed, “I thought about using you as a spy or a hostage.”

“What stopped you?” Tetsuya asked quietly.

“You did.”

“ _Sumimasen_ ,” Tetsuya breathed, his heart quickening, “but you had complete advantage of me. You could have done anything, but instead, you made that agreement with me.”

“Yes, I agreed that I would heal your scars if you would let me bind you and make love to you.”

“And you honored that agreement,” Tetsuya mused, “although you betrayed the others who you had agreements with. Were you just acting on a whim?”

Aizen’s eyes narrowed and his smile grew a shade more wicked.

“I was not. You took me by surprise that day,” he explained, “I looked at you and found a bit of mystery. That doesn’t happen to me so very often, so I appreciate what does surprise me.”

“What are you going to do to me?” Tetsuya asked suddenly, “Are you going to kill me this time?”

Aizen considered quietly for a moment, stealing a glance at Tetsuya’s still bared body.

“You’ve surprised me again,” he answered, tilting his head to one side, “I didn’t know that there were any living breeder males, Tetsuya, nor did I know that you were one of them.”

“I…!” Tetsuya began to object.

Aizen’s staying fingertips touched his lips and Tetsuya froze, staring up at him

“In addition to not knowing that any breeder males existed, and that you are one of them, I was not aware that your reproductive ability was triggered by our very spontaneous intercourse.”

Tetsuya paled.

“I didn’t remember us having sex before,” he said in a troubled tone, “I didn’t even remember meeting you. But, when I returned to Kuchiki Manor and let myself be examined, it caused my cousin, Byakuya, a great deal of frustration that I had no memory of the one who removed my scars and…and, as we later found, impregnated me.”

Aizen’s eyes glinted with mingled surprise and deep curiosity.

“Ah, so you are pregnant!”

“Y-yes,” Tetsuya affirmed, his face reddening, “it seems I am having your child…or…well, I don’t know if I am going to be able to carry the child to term or not.”

“Are you ill?” Aizen asked, looking at him more closely, “But, you look to be in perfect health.”

“Except that the pregnancy caused me to briefly lose my powers.”

“But, if you are pregnant and you knew…”

“I didn’t know it would interfere with my powers,” Tetsuya explained, “and the need for my abilities as both a healer and a protector were important to that mission.”

“I see.”

“Captain Aizen, what are you going to do to us?” Tetsuya asked.

“I’m not sure,” Aizen said, giving Tetsuya a measured look, “You have me very curious, and besides, if I let you go, I can’t explore this very unexpected thing that our coitus produced. Tell me, Tetsuya, how do you feel, knowing that the child you carry is mine?”

Tetsuya considered his words carefully.

“I am not sure how I feel about it all,” he confessed, “I am, on the one hand, very happy to be with child. I lost my family in Itamigiri, and although I love my cousin and my adoptive family very much…it is… _different_ to have this little one who is a part of me and my parents. It scares me to learn you, the betrayer of Soul Society, are the father, but…that does not change how I feel about the baby.”

He thought for a moment, then added…

“What do you feel about the baby and me?”

“Surprised,” Aizen admitted, “curious. I want to understand this phenomenon. I admit I am not interested in the baby as much as the mystery.”

Tetsuya let out a soft breath.

“I think I may lose the baby.”

“Why is that?”

Tetsuya’s eyes grew troubled.

“The way that the pregnancy works is that the father of the child impregnates the bearer through the placement of semen and reiatsu near the spirit core. That material is bonded and swirled into a sphere, and it causes a chamber to form. The material clusters inside, and it fuses to form a new reiatsu.”

“The child?”

“Yes. The reiatsu needs to be fed for several months through intermittent bonding between the bearer and the father of the child. Others with enough resonance can assist, but the miscarriage rate is much higher in those cases.”

Aizen’s smile returned.

“So, what you are saying is that you assume that I will not conduct these infusions for you?”

“I…I don’t…” Tetsuya stammered.

“Tetsuya Kuchiki, I won’t pretend that I desire to become a model father and family man. I think my sins are a bit too great to allow that, and I don’t really desire it. However, you and I may be able to come to agreement…as we did before.”

Tetsuya’s face fell.

“You…want to use me as a sex slave?” he asked.

Aizen slipped a hand under his chin, raising it so that their eyes met.

“We will exchange promises, as we did before,” he suggested, “I will promise to provide the infusions you need…if you will allow your powers to be sealed away and remain here in Las Noches…as my lover, for the duration of the war.”

Tetsuya’s jaw dropped and his face paled.

“Y-you are going to…to keep me here?” he whispered, staring.

“For as long as the war lasts,” Aizen promised, “I will protect you, so that you and the child will not be harmed, and…I will remove your memories at the end, so that you needn’t suffer any concerns over everything. You will have the child to yourself to raise, and I will have time to closely watch the process of breeder male pregnancy, as well as easing my loneliness.”

Tetsuya’s eyes widened, and he caught a hint of surprise also in Aizen’s eyes.

“Ah, I didn’t realize that I had become so…”

He laughed softly.

“What do you think, Tetsuya? You want to have this child, ne? Are you willing to pay the price?”

Tetsuya considered for several minutes, then he took a shaky breath and nodded.

“If you agree to protect us and to provide the infusions for us, I promise that I will allow the sealing of my powers and serve as your lover for the duration of the war.”

Aizen smiled and released the restraints, allowing Tetsuya to sit up. He took Tetsuya’s hands in his and gently placed the seal, leaving enough power radiating so that the life systems of the baby would be supported.

“There now. Come, Tetsuya. Now that we have made an agreement, I will see to the first of the infusions…then, you and I will explore each other a bit.”

“Ah, Captain Aizen,” Tetsuya inquired, “if I am to stay under these circumstances, how shall I call you? Shall I continue to call you, Captain Aizen?”

Aizen’s smile warmed until it became almost melting.

“You may call me…Sosuke.”


	3. Bonds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aizen and Tetsuya grow closer as they share a lusty affair in Las Noches.

Tetsuya accepted Sosuke Aizen’s offered hand and slid down, off of the examination table. He exited the infirmary alongside the leader of the hollows, and began to walk down the set of hallways that led to Aizen’s bedroom. As he walked, he noted the curiously accepting reaction he seemed to get from the hollows who passed them.

“Why do they look at me this way?” Tetsuya whispered to his smirking host.

“Well,” Aizen said, “I think that, as a close confidante of the leader of the greatest noble clan, you wouldn’t want to be seen at my side, and have that news travel back to the Seireitei, ne?”

“Oh, of course,” Tetsuya agreed, “It’s going to be awkward enough when I reappear at home later with no knowledge of where I’ve been.”

“I’m sure you won’t have anything to worry about, as long as I protect you, using my illusions.”

“Your illusions?” Tetsuya repeated, giving him a mystified look. “I’m not sure I understand.”

Aizen’s hand touched Tetsuya’s slim shoulder, stopping him near a mirror that hung on a wall, over a small table in the hallway. Tetsuya’s breath caught at the sight of the illusion of an eerily beautiful blue and silver hollow mask that covered most of his comely face.

“My power will give everyone the feeling that they know and trust you as one of my advisors, so that you will be able to move freely among them. I will warn you that Gin and Tosen are going to see through the illusion, but they will not trifle with you, so long as you keep your commitment to me.”

He took Tetsuya’s hand and continued on to a huge master suite that was decorated in warm red and golden tones, with a huge, very comfortable looking bed, dark wood furniture and expensive art mounted on the walls. He sensed right away the heavy protections on the chamber.

_Of course this room would be heavily shielded, with the leader of the hollows being its inhabitant._

He carefully avoided thinking about what was going to take place very soon in that room…in that soft bed.

_I am protecting my child._

_I must focus my mind on that and let it be a shield for my heart._

_I’ve lain down with hateful men before, and I’ve suffered their unrestrained cruelty and viciousness. Aizen did not say that I would be his slave, he said that I would be his lover. He may be a cruel lover, but I hope that his use of that word means that he will not just be hurtful to me. I didn’t miss the fact that he promised nothing to me about what form his affections would take. I suppose I will learn more about that when…_

His thoughts froze as he heard the chamber door close, and Aizen moved closer to him, until they were standing, face to face. Tetsuya kept his gaze dutifully lowered. Aizen’s fingers slipped under his chin as they had before, raising his eyes to meet the traitor’s deep brown orbs.

“I would prefer to have you look me in the eyes,” Aizen instructed him, running the back of one hand over a flushed cheek.

“Of course, Sosuke,” Tetsuya answered.

_It feels strange calling him that._

“We should bathe,” his host suggested, “Do you feel all right to waiting for the infusion until after we have done that?”

“Oh…yes, that’s fine. Or, we can see to the infusion while we bathe.”

“Very well.”

Aizen turned towards the bathroom, and Tetsuya followed silently, his heart pounding in his throat.

_When I was with child long ago, the infusions made Naoki and me more desirous. I would say something to him, but…_

Aizen’s hand touched the tie at Tetsuya’s slim waist, making his thoughts scramble again and leaving him flushed and lightheaded. He stood quietly as he was undressed. Aizen met his eyes again and smiled.

“Will you undress me as well?” he asked, blinking slowly.

“Ah…” Tetsuya managed, blushing more furiously.

“I did say that you would be my lover, Tetsuya.”

“Y-yes,” Tetsuya quickly agreed, “I just…our relations before suggested that I would be…restrained when…”

“Did you enjoy that?” the elder man asked, smirking devilishly.

“I…you were…different then,” Tetsuya managed softly, “You at least seemed gentle. The way you are now, I feel…unsettled.”

“Of course you do,” Aizen acknowledged, his face taking on a more serious look, “Would you prefer that I took on a different face for our lovemaking?”

“What? No!” Tetsuya exclaimed, swallowing hard as he tried to collect his thoughts, “I want to see you as you really are. It’s just that I may need time to adjust to you. I was able to trust you before, because you seemed so gentle. I know very well this time that you are not a gentle person.”

“I am not,” Aizen agreed, “However, I have no reason to want to frighten or hurt you. If I want to indulge in my interest in your breeder ability, then I need to keep you well, ne?”

“W-well, yes, I suppose that is true,” Tetsuya said uneasily.

“So, there is no trust needed. Be at ease, Tetsuya. No harm will come to you while you are here in Las Noches.”

Tetsuya took a steadying breath and nodded.

“Thank you for comforting me,” he said quietly, “I will do my best to please you, Sosuke.”

“I have no doubt you will,” Aizen said, stroking his cheek as Tetsuya’s slightly trembling hands undressed him.

The two shared a chaste kiss, then Aizen guided the younger man to the shower, waiting while he entered, before joining him under the hot spray. Whatever Tetsuya’s lingering doubts might have been, he relaxed once he felt the water raining down on him. His body remained calm and his face composed as Aizen’s arms curled around him from behind to begin the infusion.

_It feels so good…so safe here, for some reason. It’s strange, because no one can really feel safe around Sosuke. I am only really safe as long as he is interested in exploring my breeder ability. I must stay on guard and be ready to protect myself at the point he begins to feel satisfied he has learned enough._

“Release the tension in your body,” Aizen breathed into his ear, sending a little, erotic shiver through his slender body, “Calm your mind. You are safe here.”

Tetusya loosed a slow breath, sinking more deeply into Aizen’s embrace and turning himself completely over to the elder man. Aizen’s open hand caressed the little bump on Tetsuya’s soft abdomen. His breath tickled the side of Tetsuya’s blushing throat.

_I can’t help the fact that my body is reacting to him. It’s a part of the bonding necessary to support the maturation of the reiatsu cluster in the spirit chamber. I can feel him hardening too._

“Tetsuya?”

A bright flush roared over the younger man’s face. Aizen smirked and chuckled as he read his lover’s flustered expression.

“I see. Well, it is good that we were going to copulate anyway.”

Tetsuya’s heart pounded in his chest and he couldn’t think of how to answer. His breath caught as he felt a throbbing under the back of his shoulder.

_Is this the beating of Aizen’s heart?_

_I think that a lot of people would doubt that he ever had one. Yet, there it is, feeling as soft and as gentle as anyone else’s…this heart that beats within the most wicked shinigami._

Tetsuya calmed even more under the influence of the warm flow of Aizen’s supportive reiatsu into his body. He almost felt like smiling at the sensation, but was stopped by a sobering thought.

_This is the only time that the three of us will be together. When the war ends, I will go back to the Seireitei and give birth, not even remembering this. And while it will be a protection for me not to know, it is a burden now, to think of being made to forget. I don’t know how to feel. How will our child feel, not knowing his or her father?_

_Then again, isn’t it better not to know?_

“You seem troubled.”

Tetsuya nodded.

“I don’t mean to be,” he explained, “It’s just that…well, I don’t know the right way to explain.”

He slid a hand down to rest on the elder man’s, where it still laid on his lower abdomen, leaking warm reiatsu into the area.

“I suppose I feel regretful, in a way. I understand that your interest in this child and in me is purely scientific, but what I know about the situation doesn’t match what I feel.”

“And what is it that you feel, Tetsuya?” Aizen inquired, his tone more that of the curious scientist again.

“I wonder how you can hold everyone at such a distance all of the time,” Tetsuya confessed softly, “Even the one who carries a part of you…even the one that is a part of you.”

“Hmm,” Aizen mused, closing his eyes and breathing in Tetsuya’s gentle, sweet scent, “You think it’s a callous act?”

“Or…perhaps a self-protective one.”

Aizen’s lips curved upward in amusement.

“Why would I need to protect myself from you or this child?” he asked, turning and nudging Tetsuya up against the shower wall, “Like everything else around me, you will come and you will go. If I hold tightly to anything, it will still leave, Tetsuya. That is a fact. And it’s one that you protect your own heart from all of the time. You are dishonest with yourself, thinking that you can hold things together. I accept that things will, and eventually do, fall apart.”

He captured Tetsuya’s comely face in his wet hands, breathing in the thick steam and admiring the younger man’s beauty and longing expression.

“You should live in the here and now, Tetsuya,” the elder man advised him, “That is all of the time you really have, you know.”

He started to lean in to kiss Tetsuya, then paused, staring as curiosity blossomed on the younger man’s face.

“You do not include yourself in the passage of time,” Tetsuya concluded, “Tell me, why is that?”

Aizen answered with a knee-weakening kiss that seemed to draw all of the breath out of Tetsuya’s heaving chest at once. The passion in the man’s smirking lips and mouth and forceful tongue stopped his words and sent his thoughts skittering away like dry and cracked autumn leaves. It was a kiss he couldn’t help returning with equal passion, coupled with warm hands that seemed like they couldn’t possibly be so callous as Aizen claimed to be. Those searching hands followed the contours of the younger man’s body, appreciating the softness and perfection of every inch, bringing a blush to Tetsuya’s face and throat as the two kissed, then broke apart, and kissed again more forcefully.

And whatever claims Aizen made to callousness, there was nothing of that in the gentle hand that captured Tetsuya’s thigh, lifting it to open the way for their next joining. And, Tetsuya realized, it was nothing like their first, that felt so strange with Aizen acting like a stranger to him. The man touching him this time was full of life and warmth and affection.

_Well, he did say that I would be his lover. Last time we were together, it was only meant to be a one time agreement. A simple exchange. This time, he wants more closeness. I can see it in his eyes, feel it in his touch and it is everywhere in the reiatsu swirling around us. I don’t feel like a slave or a stranger to him. I feel like a lover…maybe more so than I have ever felt with anyone._

He gasped as Aizen’s fingers invaded, and his hips moved, rubbing their inflamed nether erections together as the elder man’s fingers slid into his body and worked slowly to prepare him. Aizen’s smirking lips pressed against his, then trailed a line of kisses along his cheek, down the length of his neck, following the line of his collarbone.

“You can touch me as well.”

Tetsuya’s breath left him again at the words.

_It’s so strange to be welcomed to do something like that. Orochi never let me put my hands on him, unless it was by his order, and I just clung to Naoki as he took me. This is so different…so very different that I hardly know what to do._

But, as though he had said the words out loud, Aizen’s hand moved to guide his, teasing his fingers to slide along the side of the taller man’s handsome face, to trace his smirking lips, to slide down and tease his dusky, erect nipples. Aizen emitted something between a heavy purr and a soft roar and pushed up harder against him, holding him in place and bringing the head of his thick, damp penis to Tetsuya’s carefully prepared entrance.

“Do you understand now?” Aizen’s voice rumbled hotly in his ear, sending a shiver down his spine as the head of the man’s penis pushed inside him, “You are my lover now. I find you beautiful and engaging, Tetsuya, a mystery to be thoroughly explored.”

Sweat broke out on Tetsuya’s face and throat and he panted helplessly as Aizen’s engorged length continued to embed itself in the younger man’s body in slow, indulgent thrusts. When their bodies were fully joined, Aizen’s warm eyes found his and entrapped them as he began a barrage of deeper, harder and gradually faster thrusts. Tetsuya became completely entranced by the sight of the man that some called the devil, himself, the man who had betrayed his comrades, who had murdered the sages and judges of Central 46, and who had planned to kill the soul king to take over the world.

_But, I don’t feel any of that in him right now. He is holding me like I’m really dear to him. I can’t believe that I would be for any length of time, but he told me to live in the moment, and if I do that, all I see and hear and feel is a man who is loving me like no one ever has. He asks nothing of me that I haven’t promised him. He gives me eye contact, the best of his flesh and a promise of pleasure and comfort while I am his._

_He didn’t have to do this._

_He could have simply taken what he wanted from me._

_Why?_

_Why me?_

_Why, Sosuke?_

“Why?” he whispered, shocked that the word had escaped him.

Aizen answered him with a dizzying display of fierce, burning kisses, with firmer, more passionate caresses and thrusts so deep and almost painful that they dragged lurid sounds from somewhere down in his chest. He gripped the elder man’s shoulders, panting and moaning shamelessly as the erotic touches and thrusts overcame him and he surrendered with a howl of pleasure to the almost violent shudders of an earthshaking release.

It took him a moment to realize that Aizen, too, had been overcome. Hot spurts of the man’s seething release seared his insides, and the elder man’s face burrowed into Tetsuya’s wet hair, breathing in his scent and biting contentedly at his shoulder. It was a few long minutes of the two remaining in that position, panting harshly and feeling the beautiful hum of satedness before Aizen let his spent cock slide slowly out of Tetsuya’s body and he took the younger man’s face in his hands and kissed him more tenderly.

“Because we need each other right now,” he whispered into Tetsuya’s blushing ear, “We are in a dark world, surrounded on all sides by wicked things. It’s easy to get depressed in a place like this, ne?”

“Or scared,” Tetsuya whispered back.

“Or lonely.”

Tetsuya couldn’t help the little smile that touched his lips. Aizen traced the smile with a finger, then kissed him again and stepped back slightly.

“Will you bathe me?”

Tetsuya recognized instantly that there was no order in the words. It was the request of one lover for the touch of another, and he immediately put himself to the task of honoring the man’s request. His soft, gentle hands lathered the soap, then spread it onto every inch of the man in front of him. And Tetsuya labored over every inch of him, learning every curve and every hollow and exerting pleasant pressure, rubbing, caressing, even probing to know every inch of the man that he was sure no one really understood.

_Maybe he is too much for anyone to comprehend. But I can learn this much of him. I will take whatever he is willing to offer me. And I will give back in equal measure. We may not have long, but who ever knows what time they really have anyway? Naoki and I didn’t know, nor did Byakuya and Hisana or any of the other lovers that time has parted._

But Tetsuya did his best to read his lover’s need, and he gave all of himself to putting his emotion into the gentle washing of Aizen’s tall, muscular body. Still, he was taken aback when he had finished, and Sosuke Aizen, the leader of the hollows and perhaps the most wicked man to walk the worlds returned Tetsuya’s effort with the same careful diligence. When he had finished, the two left the shower and dried themselves, then Aizen surprised Tetsuya all over again by lifting him and carrying him back to his bedroom, kissing him all of the way. He laid Tetsuya down in his bed and made love to him again, and several times more before the next morning.

Tetsuya woke to find himself naked and alone in Aizen’s bed with a note pressed into his hand that read simply.

_I treasure our love._

Tetsuya sighed and held the words over his throbbing heart.

_It’s only for right now, and he didn’t have to do it at all, but…_

_…but, he did…_


	4. The Wicked Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tetsuya takes an impetuous action that has unexpected consequences.

Kenpachi Zaraki heard a light step on the sand, near where he slept in the training area beneath Kisuke Urahara’s shop, and he opened his eyes and spotted Byakuya standing silently near the place where apparatus had been set up for the crossing into Hueco Mundo. The noble’s reiatsu was calm on the surface, but Kenpachi could feel the disturbance beneath it. He read the grim set of his noble comrade’s expression and the cold anger in Byakuya’s steel grey eyes.

“You know, glaring at that thing isn’t going to get it ready for all of us to use,” he commented, “although, if you ask me, Kisuke could just let me through and I could take care of all of this without the rest of you.”

Byakuya made a low, mocking sound and his next words were laced with sarcasm.

“You are deluding yourself. If you think that Aizen’s betrayal was bloody, this conflict in the desert will be a hundred times more so. You saw it in Urahara’s face when he was talking to us about sending Ichigo. The man is in love with that young troublemaker, and it’s clear enough what he thinks Ichigo’s chances are at coming back alive.”

“And yet, he must have had hope, because he sent the kid, right?” Kenpachi pointed out, “Kinda like you sent your pretty cousin to reconnoiter for us.”

He didn’t miss the guilty look that crossed Byakuya’s comely face at his words. Kenpachi’s head tilted and his expression softened slightly.

“Sorry,” he said gruffly, following Byakuya’s steady gaze, “You must be worried about him…a gentle thing like him, out in all of that chaos? But even though he didn’t escape, he got the rest of’em out. You know he’s a smart one. He’ll be okay. He’ll probably be waiting for us when we arrive in Hueco Mundo.”

“Probably,” Byakuya agreed, his tone betraying his lack of conviction.

“It sucks, waiting like this,” Kenpachi complained, “Why don’t you come over here and we can make out a little.”

Byakuya gave no answer, but shot him an icy glare.

“You didn’t look like you minded while we were waiting in the precipice world to make our entry to pick up our team before. I know you only let me kiss you because you lost the bet over how long we’d have to wait, but it was pretty damned tasty. Didn’t know kissing was that good.”

“I am not kissing you again,” Byakuya huffed, closing his eyes for a moment, “I only allowed it before, because I was stupid enough to make that asinine bet out of boredom.”

“Well,” Kenpachi said, grinning and rising to go and stand beside the noble, “we’re bored again. C’mon, it’ll kill some time. I showered and brushed my teeth. I promise I don’t smell bad.”

Kenpachi’s hazel eyes glinted as he slid his arms around the noble from behind, and he felt Byakuya stiffen warningly.

“I should loose Senbonzakura on you for making such a suggestion,” the noble scoffed, but his tone betrayed a lack of resolution and he made no move to extricate himself from his comrade’s strong arms.

_Being held by Kenpachi is so different than being held by a woman. On the one hand, I want to kill him for laying hands on me, but on the other…I do remember that kiss was unlike any that ever touched me before._

_Why?_

_Kenpachi is ridiculously devoted to fighting until he reaches the battle where the next Kenpachi kills him. There is no future in loving a man like him._

_And yet…_

He wasn’t sure when his eyes had closed or why he made no move to escape as Kenpachi’s hand curved under his chin, lifting it so that their lips met roughly.

_There are never any guarantees. Love is a risk, no matter who is involved, and I will not close my heart off from love. For, to do that would be to close off my reason for living. No, I must have the courage to embrace love in whatever form it takes._

“Damn, Kuchiki,” Kenpachi chuckled, meeting the noble’s stern grey eyes, “You could kill with that kiss of yours. Didn’t know I liked sweet things so much. Let’s do it some more, okay?”

“We have work to do,” Byakuya said stiffly, “Remember that we were assigned the task of building up the reiatsu in the place where the gate will be opening. As soon as Urahara is finished with the computations, we can prepare to make our entry into Hueco Mundo. All of our attention must be on doing that.”

“Yeah, right. Whatever,” Kenpachi grumbled, “Just, once we get there, stay the hell outta my way. Don’t wanna kill you by mistake.”

“ _You_ stay out of _my_ way, you overgrown baboon,” Byakuya said, scowling.

“So much for the sweet stuff,” Kenpachi complained, “Oh well, back to business, I guess.”

XXXXXXXXXX

Tetsuya woke in the late morning and found himself alone in Aizen’s bed, naked and splashed in the sticky remains of the night’s passionate lovemaking. He slipped out of the bed, pausing for a moment and wincing at the residual pain in his flushed and slightly swollen nipples, and in his loins and soft bottom.

_I’ve never been with a lover like this man! There was not an ounce of cruelty in anything he did, but I felt at times like he was just short of simply devouring me. He so enjoyed the softness of my flesh, my scent and every blessed inch of my genitals. And when he was inside me, I became as feverish in seeking completion as he was. I forgot everything but that desire to pleasure and be pleasured._

_The infusion was about the baby, but everything else was about this very complex man and me._

He walked into the bathroom and warmed the shower, then he stepped in under the hot spray. He took his time, enjoying the splashing and heat of the water on his skin, then he bathed himself just as slowly.

_When I was a prisoner, Orochi only allowed me to bathe before he had sex with me, then he sent me back to my cell after, still covered in his wickedness. Naoki pretended not to mind, but I could tell that it bothered him to smell that man’s seed on my flesh, to know how Orochi hurt me so that, for the longest time, I did not desire sex. I never climaxed with either of them._

_But, I do with Sosuke._

_I never knew what it was to feel that sudden release of pressure…to want so badly to climax that I would beg shamelessly to have orgasm granted to me. And to succumb to it with feral howls of bliss. Sex was merely something that other men had with me. Now, it is the delight of a bond that I have never had with anyone, and that I am sure I will never have again._

_And with every moment I spend in his arms, I fall more deeply in love with him. I wonder why he allows this, even encourages it. I suppose he doesn’t worry about missing this after, because he is probably not in love, and I won’t be allowed to remember. We are both able to give ourselves completely to this bond, though for different reasons._

_It is sad, though._

Tetsuya felt Aizen’s warm, strong arms wrap around him, and he sank into his lover’s embrace easily, tilting his head to allow Aizen’s hot mouth to ravage the side of his neck. He sighed contentedly as a hand slid down the length of his slender torso and began to stroke his awakening cock, and Aizen’s voice rumbled in his ear.

“Did I sense a moment of melancholy, Tetsuya?” the leader of the hollows asked.

“It’s nothing,” Tetsuya assured him, “I just have moments when…I wish that this didn’t have to end.”

He turned in Sosuke’s arms and looked up into the elder man’s dark, powerful eyes.

“You are so different as a lover, than you were as a captain and comrade. At least, I think that you are. I haven’t asked you about your past.”

“Probably because it doesn’t matter to us at all,” Aizen commented, “We are in a place that transcends time.”

“But it has a beginning and an end,” Tetsuya reasoned.

“Which I told you not to worry about,” Aizen chided him, kissing him gently, reaching down to rub the bump on his belly, “When you feel sad about that, just focus on the little one, who is an expression of our love, and who will be staying with you, even after our time together has ended.”

“I am deeply grateful for that comfort,” Tetsuya assured him, “It’s just that…I have never had anyone treat me as an equal. I’m used to being judged, based on the blood in my veins, that I did not choose. I am used to staying out of everyone’s way and accepting my lower status in the family. What I feel with you is so different.”

Aizen smiled and cupped Tetsuya’s face in his hands.

“Well, perhaps as long as I am successful in overthrowing the king and ascending to the throne in the heavens, we will be able to revisit our agreement…although, if the war goes ill for your loved ones, you may not be able to forgive me.”

“I don’t know,” Tetsuya admitted softly, “I don’t know what I would feel, at that point. Maybe it is better to leave us only this much. At least, there will be no lasting guilt, and I am doing nothing to betray my loved ones.”

“No,” Aizen chuckled, “If anything, you will certainly be helping them with the information you have been gathering while you are here. Do you have a way of sending it to them?”

Tetsuya’s blue eyes widened.

“You…?”

Aizen laughed softly.

“I would expect no less form Byakuya’s right hand.”

“Then, why would you give me any opportunity to learn so much? Were you playing some kind of game with me? Was I looking at illusions, then?”

“No,” Aizen said, caressing his cheek affectionately, “you were seeing the truth. It’s just that it doesn’t matter at all what they learn from you, so feel free to try to pass on what you learn. At least it could raise the challenge to a more enjoyable level. So far, the shinigamis have been so predictable it’s boring.”

“It doesn’t bother you at all that the person who you are…”

“My lover, you mean?” Aizen inquired.

“Your lover,” Tetsuya corrected himself, “It doesn’t bother you that your lover is working against you?”

Aizen smiled devilishly.

“Rivals often make the best lovers…like your cousin and Kenpachi Zaraki, perhaps?”

“What?” Tetsuya mused, frowning, “Those two despise each other. Kenpachi only wants to fight and Byakuya feels fighting is something to only be done as a last resort after negotiations have failed.”

“He may feel that way,” Aizen agreed, pausing to invade Tetsuya’s mouth hungrily, “but the challenge between them is powerful. Lust can grow easily in a situation like that. And Byakuya has been lonely since the death of his wife…some I can...”

Tetsuya didn’t miss the little flicker of surprise in his lover’s eyes.

_He nearly confessed something he didn’t mean to._

_I wonder…_

But he had no time to think about what he had seen, as Aizen’s mouth clamped tightly down on his again, and he turned Tetsuya and trapped him against the wall of the steamy shower. He joined his body with the younger man’s so slowly and indulgently that Tetsuya couldn’t think of anything but the lurid throbs of pleasure that swiftly overwhelmed his body. He barely registered being lifted and carried back to the bed, where his still soaked body was laid down and subjected to an even slower and more intense seduction.

 _It’s like a drug…this endless lust that keeps us in its grip_ , Tetsuya mused inwardly as Aizen’s hot release filled him inside, _But I feel it, more and more as the days pass. It is a desperation that tells me I am not alone in wishing that this didn’t have to end. Sosuke is proud. He will never say the words, or at least, if he does, he will never leave me with the memory of hearing them from him._

Tetsuya’s love ravaged body fell still beneath his lover’s, and he fought to remain awake, even as Sosuke drifted off to sleep. He stroked the elder man’s hair gently, thinking carefully, then he blinked slowly as an idea came to him.

_I can leave him a token._

_I can place a very small amount of my life force in his body. I don’t know if it will be able to activate once my memories of him are taken, but maybe if he thinks of me desirously, if he misses me…just maybe we will both remember._

Tetsuya thought carefully for a moment.

_My powers are held under a seal, but the seal only keeps the reiatsu inside the confines of a small space around me. With our bodies joined, I can send the reiatsu into him, and because it is such a tiny amount, it shouldn’t trigger a defensive reaction._

_I need for this to work. I really don’t want to forget everything that has happened. I know I must so that it will be safe for me to go back home, but once I am there, maybe this will give us some hope of holding on to what we’ve become._

Tetsuya was surprised at just how easy it was to slip a bit of his reiatsu into his sleeping lover’s body and conceal it there. He breathed a sigh of relief and let himself drift off. And even when he woke alone again, he found he could connect readily with Aizen’s strong presence.

_I can sense where he is, and the state of his emotions. I’m not sure why that thought brings such comfort. I sort of wonder if he knows what I did. I mean, the man seems to anticipate everything I do. Has he anticipated this too? Is it like it was with the intelligence I gathered? Does it just not matter in the grand scheme of things, because he is so very sure of himself? Or is this such a minor intrusion that he might not have noticed? The reiatsu isn’t of an amount to be used to do harm. He’ll know that if he does sense it._

Tetsuya left off his concerns and climbed out of bed. He rinsed off in the shower and dressed, then he slipped out onto the balcony outside the master suite to look up at the blue sky.

_I know it is the illusion of sunlight, but Sosuke’s power is such that my body doesn’t know. It soaks up the sunlight and warms me. He says that the constant darkness can be depressing, and I know that’s true. I spent most of my childhood in the dark. I’m lucky to have been freed so that I can enjoy the light…even this illusion of light._

Tetsuya sighed and rubbed his belly, smiling as he registered the much increased size of his baby bump.

_All of the infusions and sexual joinings have hastened the maturation rate of the reiatsu. I think that there is a chance that I will deliver the baby before we leave Las Noches. I wonder if Sosuke will want to see the baby. I wonder what it will make him feel? He seems so detached from everything, as if he has it all figured out and he’s always waiting for everyone else to catch up with him. I wonder if the detachment is real, or if that, too, is an illusion. I wonder so many things about him all of the time…_

Tetsuya was brought out of his thoughts by a soft voice that registered nearby.

“ _He_ was out and studying our defenses here,” Gin’s voice said, matter-of-factly, “Sosuke may be able to blithely ignore it, but I don’t think it’s a good idea, letting that pretty little plaything just do what he likes. What do you think?”

“I think King Aizen isn’t worried about Tetsuya Kuchiki, and if he’s not, then there’s no reason for us to worry,” ,Tousen’s voice replied.

“That’s a cocky attitude.”

“Tetsuya is just a regular shinigami, and he is powerless while he is pregnant. Aizen has so many cages around that young man’s heart and mind, he doesn’t need to cage Tetsuya’s body. I think he worries more about the girl. She is a wild card in all of this.”

“I think he likes playing with the danger she and his pretty lover bring.”

“King Aizen has all of us figured out,” Tousen said quietly, “the girl? Tetsuya Kuchiki? You? Me? We are all beneath him. You would do well to remember that when you feel like questioning his actions.”

Tetsuya heard soft footsteps moving away, but then, Gin’s voice sounded again.

“And you would do well to stay out of my way, or you might just find out that I’m more of a threat to you than Sosuke.”

 _I wonder how Sosuke bears being around backstabbing people like Gin_ , he wondered, _But then, Sosuke is a master at using people to get what he wants. And he never seems to fear anything anyone could do. He acts as though he has seen everything we are all likely to do. It seems like he’s read ahead in the story and is only blithely acting out his part as the pieces around him move in their expected patterns. No wonder he would be bored._

He couldn’t help smiling as he recalled Aizen’s words about why he wanted Tetsuya close to him.

_I managed to take him by surprise…not once, but twice._

_I wonder…what it would take to surprise him again._


End file.
